Shelley has been writing as a dance critic since 2012 and is very excited to join the staff at The Column. Her professional performance experience includes dancing with Colorado Ballet, Ballet Ariel, Collin County Ballet Theater, and Elledanceworks. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance and currently teaches at Texas Woman’s University and Brookhaven College but has also taught at Collin College, Eastfield College, and North Central Texas College. In addition to dancing , teaching, and writing about dance, Shelley has a long resume of choreographic work, much of which includes inter-disciplinary projects like creating choreography for musicals like Rent and Wizard of Oz for North Central Texas College , working with 2010 Texas Poet Laureate Karla K. Morton on It Will Hold You and Me presented at Tarleton State University, and creating and presenting a dance video at New York University titled The Grilled Cheese Express. She feels honored to have received the Pioneer Proud Award (2014-15), Gordon Yeargon Adjunct Faculty of the Year (2010), and Excellence in Teaching Award (2009) awards. Shelley is married, has four children, and teaches and practices yoga in her spare time.